I'm not bashing any type of hair. I really don't want to offend anyone, or make this some crazy race discussion but I have a question.

I am biracial, my father is black and my mother is white. My curls fit somewhere between 3b and 3c. When I straighten my hair, it is on the poofy side, looks fried and you can just tell that my hair is not naturally straight.

I used to work with a girl who had curly hair. She was white, but straightened her hair every day and it looked like her hair was naturally straight.

Is this a race thing? Or just a matter of curly type? People with 2-3a hair seem to have finer silkier hair. While people with 3b+ hair it seems to be coarser and more prone to frizz. And in my experience white people have the first type, and other races have the latter.

Yet again please don't be offended by this. In general I like my own hair and don't feel like anyone should be pressured into fitting a certain mold. I just wish I could straighten my hair once in awhile for a change and it could look normal.

SuZen

01-23-2007 08:57 AM

I think that the curlier the hair is, the more likely it won't look smooth and silky when straightened. I think we have all seen examples of straightened hair that is stiff and unattractive.

But there are many Caucasion people whose hair is 3b and 3c and I know some who venture into the 4s. I think it's a matter of hair type rather than ethnic background.

CurlieGlamourGirlie

01-23-2007 09:19 AM

Hi!! I have been known to pass as all sorts of nationalities from Middle Eastern to Greek to Hispanic to Italian to being asked if I'm Jewish.

My hair does not look good blown straight at all. It looks puffy and definitely looks like it's not supposed to be straight.

I'm fine with that too. It's too much work to get it straight and takes my hair forever to recover from it.

But I think it's a hair type thing, as my hair seems to be more and more 3c.

kdcreigh

01-23-2007 09:51 AM

Hi,

I am black and my husband is white. We have three bi-racial children. My oldest daughter has type 3a/b hair; my youngest daughter has type 2a/b hair; my son is only 4 months old and has essentially no hair! :lol:

My girls' hair straightens very easily. In fact, I can just brush it when it is dry, and it comes out straight. My husband has bone-straight (type 1), silky hair and I have type 4a/b fairly coarse, dry hair.

The hair typing (1-4) is meant to define the curl pattern, not the hair texture. There are many type 1 people in this world with coarse hair (many Asians have bone-straight, coarse hair). There are also many type 4s with soft and silky hair (my mother has 4a/b soft and silky hair).

x_tigerlily

01-23-2007 10:35 AM

I'm white and I have 3C hair with bits of 4A. When I straighten my hair, it's poofy looking and you can tell my hair isn't naturally straight...even when I was relaxing it.

Although my hair is 3C it's not coarse. It's pretty soft and cottony.

Layali

01-23-2007 11:22 AM

My hair comes out silky and smooth when I straighten it. I think it has less to do with race and more to do with the condition of your hair and products you use. I only get the poof when my hair is extremely dry.

Oh, yeah and I'm black :wink:

redcelticcurls

01-23-2007 11:30 AM

I think it may be more of a texture thing too. I'm a 3B, and it takes a lot of work to get my hair straight in a decent looking way. I can't even do it myself, so I get it done at a salon if I want it. The next day you can tell that I'm a curly incognito. But, I have a coarser texture, which I think plays into it more than my curl pattern. I think I could pull off straightening better if my hair was more fine and silky.

I'm not offended by the race qustions. As pale as I am, I get race questions because of my hair. My guess is that so many white women straighten that sometimes we forget that white people can have a tighter curl pattern too.

SuZen

01-23-2007 11:32 AM

Thought I'd add that I work with a woman from India who has very curly hair -- it's so short it's hard to tell, but I'd say probably 3c. I tend to think of Indian hair as being straight or nearly so -- so there are exceptions everywhere.

Jaxie

01-23-2007 11:34 AM

I think its more about the type of hair than of your race. I know a lot of white women who have curly hair and their hair is poofy when they straighten (that is how my lil sis' hair is), but I've also known women of other races that can have soft silkly hair when they do straighten it. ~~jax

Charming Notion

01-23-2007 02:23 PM

it sometimes depends on tools/products, too. I used to have this craptastic 2 inch flat iron and it would take forever to straighten my hair and when it was done, it looked fried and the ends were puffy. later, i got a wider, conair flat iron. it is ah-mazing. i don't have to blow dry it or put any product in for it to look nice.

redbadgercurls

01-23-2007 03:28 PM

i'm about as white as it gets and when i straighten my hair it never looks like it's naturally straight. I think it's probably a combination of my texture and my crappy straightener though.

curlybean

01-23-2007 03:35 PM

I am white and I have never been able to get my 3b hair to look good when trying to straighten it. I have always had it look frizzy. The same goes for my 7 year old daughters hair. I would say that both of us have healthy hair, hers especially, but it won't straighten well. I gave up on that long ago.

eccentric_kurlz

01-23-2007 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Layali

My hair comes out silky and smooth when I straighten it. I think it has less to do with race and more to do with the condition of your hair and products you use. I only get the poof when my hair is extremely dry.

Oh, yeah and I'm black :wink:

Me too. I can get my hair pretty straight and silky when my hair is healthy, and when I use the right products and appliances to straighten(I'm 3c/4a with fine/medium textured strands). I have family with 3a/b whose hair looks really puffy/frizzy when they try to straighten. How straight you can get your (I believe) has more to do with texture, condition(health wise)and how the hair responds to manipulation as opposed the the person's racial background.

unique1193

01-23-2007 04:28 PM

I think it has to do with the curl type and curl texture. When a curly's hair is coarse, it wont look silky, and therefore giving away that your not a natural straighty. Also, if you have a tighter curl pattern, like 3bs and down, your hair wont stay perfectly straight for long, that is if you even get it perfect at all.

Portae

01-23-2007 04:42 PM

I don't know if it's just a matter of curl tightness. I definitely think that there is a texture issue that is somewhat related to race. I have non-Black friends who have curls that are just as tight if not tighter than mine, but their hair feels different. My hair is like a cotton ball texture, whereas they (my friends) will have a silky texture.

medusahair

01-23-2007 04:55 PM

My hair is just 2C/3a (whatever you want to call it pics are at the www link) and my hair looks like crap straightened. You can tell my hair isn't naturally straight. It's sort of wiry looking when straightened and it won't stay straight.
Now my moms looks odd straightened but her hair is super thick and the strands are real thick.

wild_sasparilla

01-23-2007 06:39 PM

Man, I clicked this thinking it was a thread about dying black (the color) hair, bleaching it to make it white, or going gray/white. Where was my brain? :oops:

xfancy

01-23-2007 09:35 PM

im black, have 3c hair, and silky hair when straightened. haha if it didnt look so incredibly sexy i wouldnt take the 4 hours to do it in the first place!
:lol:

i think it has to do with curl pattern and texture.

vanes16

01-23-2007 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wild_sasparilla

Man, I clicked this thinking it was a thread about dying black (the color) hair, bleaching it to make it white, or going gray/white. Where was my brain? :oops:

me too...lol

redcelticcurls

01-23-2007 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vanes16

Quote:

Originally Posted by wild_sasparilla

Man, I clicked this thinking it was a thread about dying black (the color) hair, bleaching it to make it white, or going gray/white. Where was my brain? :oops: